The 24-story downtown tower that was the original home to Bank of the Southwest has been sold, opening the door for converting it from office to residential space. The 542,919-SF building, 919 Milam, is located on a block bounded by Travis, Walker, McKinney and Milam – a block off of Main Street and about six blocks from Discovery Green.
The building, designed by architect Kenneth Franzheim, was completed in 1956, sporting an all-aluminum curtain-wall exterior. The buyer is a believed to be a Florida real estate entity that could be examining the option of converting the building to apartments.
Downtown’s new Class AA office buildings and buildings with extensive upgrades have been outperforming older office buildings in recent years. The 919 Milam building is about 20% occupied with the Coronado Club dining and social venue as the key tenant. With the current conditions of the office market, improving the office space in the 919 Milam building might not pencil in a way that makes sense…